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I am a usga 5 handicap. ok so I bought a titleist 3w 906f2 and it came with reg flex nv65. I played it for about a month and I was hitting it pretty straight and with some consistency. All my shafts on my irons(x100s) and driver are xstiff shaft with low torque and I have no complaints. I thought maybe if I get a heavier shaft with less flex would help me to even be straighter and more consistent. So I bought the ust v2 95 xstiff and spined aligned. Sounds good right? Ok so i pull the shaft out of the box an roll it like a pool stick on a flat table and its rolling like a bent pool stick(not very noticeable and I know no shaft is perfectly round.) There was a sticker on the shaft that said line up the clubface with this side of the shaft. What I found interesting was that everytime I rolled the shaft on the table it stopped with the sticker pointing up. Anyway I took it to a local clubmaker that I never tried before but heard alot of good things about. I get the club back and the spine alignment looks about 30 degrees off. Basically when i turn the shaft where it was supposed to be lined up by the clubmaker the clubface is about 30 degrees open. I took it to the range and on the course and im inconsistent with it. Balls tend to fade more often then usual and out of all the balls I hit with it I cant remember even hitting a dead straight shot with it and I was doing it all the time with my original shaft. I hit my driver strighter then my 3w. Is it in my head or should I reshaft it?

Did you have the shaft "spine aligned" or did you have it SST Pured? There is a difference, and the two will not agree on how the shat should be installed. In either case, it the alignment sticker is 30*'s off, that would explain your problems. Why not have the shaft pulled and installed the way the sticker says, and give it a second try.

Well, congatulations on purchasing one of the stiffest and lowest torque shafts available today. My guess is it HAS to be stiffer than the shaft in your driver (model and specs please). UST X flex shafts have always been very stiff, even for an X flex shaft and the listed torque on that shaft is 1.7*. A LOT lower than is available to the general public. It should feel WICKED stiff! Comparing it to something like the NV 65 is like comparing a axe handle to a fishing rod. My guess is you went just a little stiffer/lower torque than you should have. Before spending huge bucks on a shaft that you want to match your set, have a clubfitter get the specs of you current set.

About the spine, rolling the shaft on a pool table would be considered a crude way of attempting to find the spine. In other words, it would have to be a pretty serious spine to really show up. Regardless, the clubmaker must have done some testing himself before installing it 30* off like that. Visit with him about why it is positioned the way it is and see if he will reallign it.

One word of caution, pulling and reinstalling graphite shafts is work for a professional clubmaker. They need to be equiped to do the job right. If not that shaft could be destroyed really quick.

BT

That three wood is a bore through design, making the shaft play stiffer than it's design...I think the shaft is too stiff for the head you have, and would try a stiff or go back to the regular...if you can control the r flex, you are in heaven because it means more distance...

the shaft is spine aligned not pured. My driver shaft is a harrison striper tour 80 and I could only control my nv65 with a very easy swing. it was very bloopy if i tried to swing any harder then very easy.

About the stiffness and the torque, It feels good and the ball comes flyin off the face, I'm hitting it about 250avg I really like the shaft, i just with i could hit it straight. I am afraid to take it back to that clubmaker because when he took out the nv he told me he couldnt save it so i dont really want to take my $115 v2 shaft back to him.

$115 v2 shaft back to him.
How much? Golfsmith sells the V2 for $70. If that guy couldn't save the NV65, I'd find a different guy too. Did he give you back the old shaft. or did he kept it? I'm just wondering if he just told you that so he didn't have to return your old shaft. More profit that way if he can re-sell it to someone else. Just wondering.

ya I couldnt find the v2 95grams for under $100 anywhere. And the clubmaker kept the shaft. supposedly it was trashed, he probably just told me that so he can sell it. There are no clubmakers around here that I can trust. The last two times i went to golfsmith they changed my lies upright instead of flat, so no golfsmith for me. Ive been doing my own clubmaking and its the best way to go but I'm not familar with bore through so thats why I took it to a clubmaker. Oh and he charged me 35bucks to take the nv shaft out and intstall the v2(is that alot?)

Next time, see if Golfsmith can special order a 95 gram V2 for you. They claim they can special order what ever is being made. $35 seems a bit high, but it is a bore thru, and they tend to cost more. And if he kept your $87 shaft, IT'S WAY TOOOO HIGH. If he ruined your NV shaft, he should replace it for you, not just tell you it broke. Unless he told you up front, that might happen, I'd say he owes you 87 for the shaft HE RUINED.

I have a 90g Stiff sitting right next to me in my room that I got on ebay (pulled from a 904 or 906) for <$50 w/ shipping. I can't wait to put it in my V Steel.

I have the feeling you were the victim of a terrible clubmaker, one who doesn't understand spine aligning. Did he install the shaft like you would one that isn't spine aligned (V2 facing aligned with the clubhead) or did he just choose some arbitrary point to put it in?

mtcaddy4
I have read a few times that the shafts used in OEM drivers, are not the same as the same make shaft you get at a golf store, like Golfsmith. It has the same paint job, same name, but not the exaxt same specs. Seems that the OEM's tell the shaft maker what specs they want, and how much they are willing to pay for the shaft, and then the shaft makers makes the shaft as close as possible to the model they order. Close, but not equal is what you get. I can't tell you if this is true or not, but it's what a lot of the bigger club makers are posting on a few sites. Just wanted to let you know in case it matters.

From experience, I would trust the clubmaker more than a sticker from the manufacturer. Most likely its not the shaft orientation that was the problem any how. Profile, weight, and flex of the shaft are much more interesting than its orientation. Spining and flo'ing a shaft is a very easy task, so easy the most inexperienced hacks can perform it. There's a very, very good chance that this clubmaker orientated this shaft properly.

I find doing a spine alignment quite easy for all graphite shaft, but not with steel iron shafts. I've heard others say steel shafts are easier than graphite, but I've not had any success so far with any steel shafts. Most be something I'm doing wrong i guess.

Thanks for alerting me, but I don't think it matters (first, it's a fw wood shaft, not a driver shaft...but that's irrelevant :p). The V2 has all its specs printed on it, and unless they'd just lie when printing that, the specs for my shaft are very similar to the V2 you can buy on golfsmith.

Good point about the V2 having the shaft specs printed on each shaft. Penley does the same thing, but I don't know if any other shafts come this way. You might be safe with a V2, but maybe not for all the other shafts out there. In any case I hope the shaft you have works well for you.